I thought that I'd post this here in this forum (more exposure) than on the Classic forum. For those of you that get SPEED Channel, and are interested, they are showing the 33rd Monterey Historic Automobile Races tonight at 10:30 PM ET. This event will be honoring the Cooper legacy. No doubt that there will be classic Mini's and new MINIs (maybe even a look at the R56) galore. Sounds like fun... I'll be watching!

 

Sweet! Thanks for the notice. I had no idea there was going to be coverage.

 

speed channel... hm... i have direct tv... have to look for it I guess.... only 999 channels to scan....

 

dircet tv channel 607

 

Thanks for the heads-up. It is on at 7:30 my time.

 

Thanks so much for the heads up. I know what I'll be watching tonight.

 

Watching it with tears in my eyes. We had three-day tickets and reserved camping.... had a family emergency, and got a refund.

 

Yeah, thanks. I managed to progam the DVR with 2 minutes to spare

 

You have my sympathies Gromit. I hope that your emergency was positively resolved. It's little consolation but at least you'll get to see some of the event (second-hand) and I suppose that it's better than nothing. Kudos to SPEED Channel for televising the event. At least for those of us who live to far away to attend, we have a way of experiencing it.

 

Said show is now recorded for posterity on a DVD.

 

But Venture Brothers is on at 10:30....good thing I have TIVO!!

 

I thought the coverage was absolutely horrible. The featured car was the Cooper yet they spent much more time talking about Porches and F1 cars.

 

SPEED seems to thnk all anyone wants to see are Ferrari's and American Muscle cars. Look at their programing, it's about 60% NASCRAP.

 

Coverage was definitely spastic.

Not a s MINI-centric as I would have hoped. At least one of the announcers did a bit that showed off his PW MCS.

 

To be fair, they did devote some good attention to the Cooper formula and sports cars. And frankly that's what the featured marque choice was all about.

It would have been nice if they had covered more of the Mini's, but knowing SPEED, they'd see that as free advertising for MINI, and that's not gonna happen with SPEED.

I'd have preferred more sports cars, and less Trans-Am. The F1 coverage was excellent. Made me feel old: I watched most of those cars race when they were new!

 

I too was a bit dissapointed. The listing for the show gave me the impression that there was going to be a greater emphasis on the cars of John Cooper and his famous formula cars notwithstanding i took it to mean that there would undoubtedly be more on the Mini and the new MINI. Maybe I read too much into it. Sorry...Mea Culpa!

On the plus side, I too enjoyed the F1 coverage and yes it made me feel old too as I remember watching the same cars when they were cutting edge!

Still, in all fairness to SPEED Channel, they did cover an event other than NASCAR and that's a good thing. Realize that as long as NASCAR is the 800lb. gorilla of motor sports, they will continue to be covered by the media. It's what pays the bills. I'm glad SPEED still remembers those of us who love road racing.

On a side-note, SPEED Channel will be covering the SCCA National Runoffs and for us MINI lovers we should tune-in and watch the Showroom Stock C race as it should be heavily populated with MINIs including the one driven by the reigning SSC champion.

 

Although I was disappointed at not seeing a mention of MINI takes the states or the delivery of the MINI GPs to the first owners, I was pleased to see the rows of MINIs after the first corner. I remember continuing the see an Electric Blue MINI first followed by two solid rows parallel to the track.

As the events progressed, the number of MINIs along the track decreased, I assume this was when the MINI Takes the States started. It was almost like playing Where's Waldo trying to spot MINIs throughout the coverage.

 

MTTS and the GP thing were not a Monterey Historics event. They took place there, but had nothing to do with the event itself.

 

I would think they would feature the fans that made it happen - like the hundreds of Cooper fans that came from all over to support the feature marque. But they instead decided to do a spot on the NASCAR crap people were buying at the gift shop.